Disease Of Conceit

Buried deep in Bob Dylan’s catalog is Oh Mercy, the record he released in 1989. On it is a song that garnered little attention. Yet it slices deep. The song is “Disease Of Conceit.”

One of the more ironic elements of the Christian life is how many believers get sucked into a mindset of taking great pride in their walk with the Lord. It’s the parable of the Pharisee and the publican dressed up for the twenty-first century.

It’s alarmingly easy for someone to start thinking they’re really something because of what they believe as compared to other believers. Usually it’s not so much a question about the fundamentals of Christianity as their interpretation. This is often seen in how liberal and conservative believers battle it out over who has the correct interpretation of how Christians should conduct themselves. Liberals accuse conservatives of being too preoccupied with personal behavior and insufficiently involved in outward ministry, while conservatives accuse liberals of treating life as though it was nothing but a party while talking a good game but in fact embracing a hedonistic lifestyle. Instead of the publican beating his breast in sorrow saying “God be merciful to me a sinner” it’s a case of both sides stubbing their toe in the dirt as they point to the other and mutter “God I suppose You have to be merciful to them a sinner even though they don’t deserve it because they belong to the wrong political party.”

As fellow believers, it is vital to remember the word “fellow” is part of the equation. Christ’s message was never one of setting believers against one another to see who’s on top. As He demonstrated to the apostles when they were arguing this by stating all who approach Him need to do so with the faith and wonder of a child, so all who embrace Christ must do. It is vital for following Jesus, in order to be anything other than window dressing and where applicable cultural trappings, to throw away personal notions of superiority or inferiority, instead seeking His will, word and way. Faith is license for neither strutting your stuff nor slamming yourself over failures to love. It is a vessel through which allowing God to be God points us in the right direction of helping each other and strangers, mindful that even as the sardonic truism that no good deed goes unpunished rings true on this earth, neither are they unrewarded by the only One Whose opinion actually matters.

Avoid the disease of conceit.

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There’s a whole lot of people suffering tonight
From the disease of conceit.
Whole lot of people struggling tonight
From the disease of conceit.
Comes right down the highway,
Straight down the line,
Rips into your senses
Through your body and your mind.
Nothing about it that’s sweet,
The disease of conceit.

There’s a whole lot of hearts breaking tonight
From the disease of conceit,
Whole lot of hearts shaking tonight
From the disease of conceit.
Steps into your room,
Eats your soul,
Over your senses
You have no control.
Ain’t nothing too discreet
About of disease of conceit.

There’s a whole lot of people dying tonight
From the disease of conceit,
Whole lot of people crying tonight
From the disease of conceit,
Comes right out of nowhere
And you’re down for the count
From the outside world,
The pressure will mount,
Turn you into a piece of meat,
The disease of conceit.

Conceit is a disease
That the doctors got no cure
They’ve done a lot of research on it
But what it is, they’re still not sure

There’s a whole lot of people in trouble tonight
From the disease of conceit,
Whole lot of people seeing double tonight
From the disease of conceit,
Give ya delusions of grandeur
And a evil eye
Give you idea that
You’re too good to die,
Then they bury you from your head to your feet
From the disease of conceit.